the animals mates (fruits basket fanfic)
by Blacklakemermaid
Summary: My own version of fruits baskets where there is twice the amount of zodiacs because for each zodiac animal there is a male and female with the curse.
1. meet the cats

Tohru Honda was having a very interesting day. First she just so happened to stumble upon Prince Yuki's house, then there was the landslide, burying her mother's picture as well as all of her other things under a thick layer of dirt. Then of course there was waking up and being enlisted as the house's new house keeper and being given a room there. So, when Tohru looked up to see some of the ceiling boards shaking and saw an orange haired boy come crashing threw them she wasn't that surprised.

"TIME TO PAY THE PIPPER RAT BOY!" said the Orange haired boy "I'M HERE TO COLLECT!"

"Huh!" said Yuki leaning against the wall "I thought they would send someone bigger."

A girl appeared in the doorway with curly hair and green eyes chewing on a stick of Dango. She had on a black tank top and low riding skinny jeans, with black army boots and black fingerless gloves that went up to her elbow. "You know Kyo, the front door was open. You didn't need to break the roof." She said calmly leaning against the door frame.

"SHUT UP ZU!" said Kyo, then turned back to Yuki "YOU READY STUPID RAT?"

"Always."

Kyo began to rush at Yuki.

"YUUUUKKKI!" said Shigure in a sing-song voice as he appeared in the doorway himself "I heard a crash. Is Kyo here by any chance?" He turned to the girl in the doorway as the boys started fighting "Oh! Zu! How great it is to see you. What brings you here?"

Zu gave him a silent nod for an answer.

"OH NO!" said Tohru "Please don't fight!"

She walked forward only to trip on a piece of fallen wood, landing on the boy, Kyo.

There was a puff of smoke and Tohru sat up, seeing an orange cat in her arms looking very annoyed.

"OH MY GOSH I TURNED HIM INTO A CAT! WE NEED TO CALL A DOCTOR OR SOMETHING! OR A VET! A VET OR A DOCTOR?!"

"Now, now miss Honda," said Shigure "Calm down."

It was at that second Tohru tripped again, landing this time on Yuki. There were three puffs of smoke and a Dog, a rat, and a brown cat went flying into the air.

The postman, unlike Tohru, was having a perfectly normal day. He was, that is, until he came upon a house with the mail (and door) labeled 'SOHMA'.

When he opened the door to hand the mail in the usual way to the awaiting owner of the house he was instead greeted by a school girl, holding in her hands two cats (One orange, one brown), a dog, and a rat.

"IT'S JUST TERRIBLE!" The girl was crying "THEY'RE ANIMALS!"

"Why yes they are," the post man smiled.

"BUT THIS IS CRAZY! WHY JUST ONE MOMENT AGO THEY WERE….."

The dog had just taken the mail right out of the postman's hand.

"Wow," said the postman "I wish my dog was this smart." He gave the dog a pat on the head, said a cheery "good day" and then left trying to pretend that didn't happen.

However, for Tohru this still was happening since four people had just turned into animals

"DAMN IT!" she heard from behind her. Tohru turned around to see the four animals. "HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO MAKE AN EXCUSE IF YOU THREE TRANSFORM TOO?!" said the orange cat who used to be Kyo as he yelled at the rat and dog.

"DON'T YOU DARE TRY TO BLAME THIS ON US YOU STUPID CAT!" said the rat that used to be yuki.

"GO AHEAD! SAY THAT AGAIN!" challenged the Orange cat.

"Stupid. Cat." Repeated the rat.

"Come now Yuki, when you say that you refer to me as well," said the brown cat that used to be Zu as she sat away off lazily watching the argument unfold. "I had no part in this."

"I'm sorry Zu," said the rat "Stupid. Male. Cat."

(Zu: Much better)

"WHY YOU LITTLE…!" screamed the Orange cat.

"CUT IT OUT! BOTH OF YOU!" screamed the dog that used to be Shigure.

You mean they talk too….. wondered Tohru.

The dog sighed, "Well no excuses now, might as well tell her the truth." The dog turned to face her. "Tohru, I'm a dog. Yuki here's a rat. That's kyo, don't let his temper scare you he has a bit of a chip on his shoulder. That's Zu, she's pretty lazy unless she gets worked up about something. They're both cats."

"So this is…. Normal?" asked Tohru.

"Strange choice of words, but yes," said Shigure "our family has had this curse for generations. We transform into the twelve animals of the zodiac."

Kyo turned around and glared while Zu gave him a pointed look.

"Sorry," said Shigure "the twelve animals, plus the cat. You see when ever our bodies undergo a lot of strees or we hug a member of the opposite sex we transform. We eventualy change back the only problem is…." There was four puffs of smoke and four naked people were in front of Tohru "We're naked."

Later on that day Kyo and Zu were sitting outside. Kyo mopeing and Zu sitting not far away, legs dangling with a new stick of dango in her mouth. Meanwhile inside Shigure and Yuki sat talking to Tohru.

"You must think we're pretty strange now huh?" asked Shigure.

"But," said Tohru "It's not your fault if your family is cursed."

"Tohru, didn't you say that you wished you could be a cat."

"yeah,"

"Well how does it feel seeing the real thing?"

That was when it dawned on Tohru, that these two people were the REAL cat, like from the zodiac story.

"Yes, yes, it's a lot to take in," Shigure said waving a hand dismissively.

Tohru paused "How come there are two cats?" she asked

"Well," started shigure "for each zodiac animal there are two family members with the curse, one male, one female. So Zu here is the female cat and Kyo there is the Male cat even though the phrase cat-like reflex doesn't apply to him, the way you ran in to him like that. But, he is a cat, even though he's clumsier than most, surprising because of all he martial arts training he's put himself through. I'm sure he'd tell you himself If he wasn't so busy brewding like a child…"

With every word Kyo's temper seemed to grow until he burst. "WILL YOU SHUT UP?!" screamed Kyo "I TOLD YOU IT'S NOT MY FAULT! IF YOU WANT TO BLAME SOMEONE BLAME HER!" he pointed an accusing finger at Tohru (Zu through a mouth full of dango: Now now kyo, it's bad enough you broke their roof unnecessarily) "SHE SHOULDN'T EVEN BE HERE!"

"Leave her out of this," said Yuki "Who we choose to let into this house is really none of your concern. It's you who doesn't belong here."

Kyo growled and then punched the table hard, splitting it in half. One half conveniently hit right in the center of poor Tohru's head.

"Oh! Tohru! You're bleeding!" said Shigure.

There was a quick slap sound that was Zu hitting Kyo across the face.

"I knew Kyo was reckless with his temper, but to act like this…" said Shigure now with a wet cloth.

"You're still as stupid as always," said Yuki "and I'm going to prove it to you by giving you exactly what you want. Only this time, I won't hold back."

"OKAY SISSY BOY!" said Kyo thrusting out his fist.

"NO!" screamed Tohru.

"It's ok," said shigure, seeming calm, as he turned Tohru's head so he could clean her cut. "This oes back farther then to day. Those two do nothing but fight whenever they see each other."

Other then the fight outside the house seemed pretty calm. Even Zu seemed to show a little intrest in the battle by moving over to sit next to Shigure a stick that used to have dango on it clenched in her teeth.

"At least he's gotten a BIT better," she said quietly to Shigure.

"Yes, but so has Yuki," said Shigure passively.

"Shouldn't we stop them?" asked Tohru.

"Oh no." said Zu sitting with one arm on her bent knee "It will be over soon anyways."

With one swift kick, Yuki had knocked Kyo through the rice paper wall.

"HE SEN HIM FLYING!" said Tohru amazed.

Zu was clapping. "Good show Yuki, was that a record?"

"Three seconds short," replied yuki.

"Impressive, but next time please don't break the house," said Shigure pathetically.

"Miss Honda! Are you okay?" asked Yuki.

"Yes! I am!" said Tohru. But then she turned to Kyo, who Zu was now walking over to. "But I'm not sure about him."

"He's fine," said Yuki "the only thing he's bruised is his ego."

Tohru watched as Zu kneeled down and helped Kyo up.

"So, I'm pretty sure your dreams of being a cat are pretty much shattered at this point," said Shigure.

"Oh I don't know," said Tohru "I wouldn't say..." That was when Kyo ran away. Zu watched him leave, still kneeling on the ground.

Later that day Tohru and Yuki came home from school.

"I'm just going to put my stuff away," said Tohru.

"Okay," said Yuki.

Tohru went up the stairs and opened up the door to her room only to see Kyo standing on top of a step ladder tapeing up the hole in the roof with Zu sitting on the floor leaning on the base of a ladder reading a book with the ever present dango in her mouth.

"Don't freak out," said Kyo "It's only temporary. You can call a guy to fix it in the morning."

Zu looked up from her book and stared at kyo.

"uh, look," said Kyo grabbing hold of the roll of tape tightly "I kinda have trouble controlling my temper…" Zu raised a pointed brow at him "But that doesn't mean that…"

"HELLOOOOOOOOOO!" said Shigure from downstairs "YUKI! TOHRU! KYO AND ZU, YOU BETTER NOT BE DOING SOMTHIN STUPID AND DESTROYING MY HOUSE AGAIN!"

"AH FORGET IT!" said Kyo chucking the tape as hard as he could so it went flying, deflecting off of the cover of Zu's book that was now shut to cover her face. Kyo stormed out of the room.

"ah man!" said Zu scanning the closed book "He scratched the cover." She rubbed the scratched spot with her hand and then looked up. "Don't mind him. Cats and dogs you know?"

"But you and shigure seem to get along well." Said Tohru.

"Yeah, but I don't have what he has."

"Huh?"

Zu looked up from her thoughtful stare and smiled kindly. "Story for another time. Remind me to tell it to you though. It's a good one." She got up from the floor with her book under her arm. "Goodbye Tohru." And then she left, following after her zodiac partner.

It was over lunch when Shigure, Kyo, and Zu came through the door.

"Stop!" said Shigure "Kyo just listen to me!"

"I DON'T WANT TO HEAR IT! YOU THINK IT'S FUN JERKING ME AROUND LIKE THAT!" said Kyo running/ walking into the house.

(Zu while sitting down at the table and picking up a bowl of rice: Hey guys. What's going on?)

"Hold on!" said Shigure "It wasn't….. okay it was a little bit fun, but that's not why I did it. It's for your own good and don't forget this was akito's decision!"

"I don't give a damn about akito!" said Kyo

(Zu: pass the fish)

"Uh, are you hungry?" Tohru asked Kyo "I made you some lunch…"

"SHUT UP!" screamed Kyo before her closed the door.

"More rice please," said Zu holding out her empty bowl.

"Oh!" said Shigure "Lunch is ready!"

"But shouldn't we help him?" asked Tohru.

"Who? Kyo? No, he just needs to let off steam. He's mad I made him take an entrance exam for your school today."

"More like TRICKED us," said Zu rice half way to her mouth.

"What?!" said Yuki standing up "You made him take the entrance exam for our school?!"

"Oh yeah," said shigure. "You'll all be classmates now! WON'T THAT BE FUN!" he beamed.

Yuki, however, was not amused. "Get out of the house," he said pointing to the door.


	2. Zodiac history

"calm down Kyo," said Zu as she, Kyo, Yuki, and Tohru walked to school. Each was in their uniform and it was sunny that day. Zu seemed calm, eating some cheese on a stick (out of dango) and looking at kyo with mocking exasperation. Yuki seemed annoyed and his fist twitched every once and a while. It looked like he wanted to punch something. Tohru was looking startled, watching the seen unfold. Then there was kyo, his shirt not fully buttoned, his ties loose, shirt untucked and his face contorted in rage.

"I WILL NOT CALM DOWN!" he yelled.

"Well, worth a shot," said Zu putting her hands behind her head in a calm manner. "Yuki, your turn to knock some sense into him."

"Gladly," there was a load sound as Kyo's head snapped backwards due to the force of Yuki's fist.

There was a silent moment where everyone was shocked (except for zu, she was too busy with her cheese on a stick to care) and everyone just stopped. That silence was quickly broken.

"DAMN RAT!" screamed the male cat.

"Stupid cat," said the rat, before all four of them walked on again in even more noise than before.

When they got to the school Hana and Uo were waiting by the doors.

Zu and Hana stared at each other for a while, both displaying an expression of utter unintrest to the point where they almost looked like each other. Uo patted Kyo's head, ruffling the bright orange locks while Kyo screamed, not able to do anything about it without hitting a girl, and that was something he wouldn't do.

Kyo and Zu were led into the school and were quickly bombarded by curious students all wanting to know exactly who these two were. When it was found out that the tall girl with curly brown hair and the boy with weird orange hair were cousins of Prince Yuki, they weren't left alone. Zu ignored them mostly, slowly but surely making friends in her class with her jokes and light laugh. Kyo was different, with every attempt a classmate made at trying to become friends with the scowling boy Kyo got more angry.

That was when the cats came.

The came through the door and jumped through the windows, and all of them landed right on Kyo's lap. Zu had shot up from her chair and layed a hand on his shoulder.

"Calm down," she said quietly.

By this time the class had noticed the cats that seemed to have magically appeared in the room and their specific placement next to Kyo.

"Aw! KYO! You a cat person?" asked one of the guys in the class "You always act so tuff but deep down your just a big softy aren't you?"

Kyo let out a roar of frustration and jumped out the window, onto a tree and off the tree onto the roof.

Zu turned to the boy, flames dancing in your eyes, and slapped him across the face before following Kyo out the window.

"I'm going to check on them," said Tohru.

Yuki nodded and Tohru left to go to the roof by way of the hallway instead of jumping out the window.

When she got to the roof she found Kyo and Zu sitting quite relaxed (Though kyo looked a little irritated, but that was normal) and surrounded by cats.

"Are you ok?" Tohru asked.

Kyo and Zu turned. Kyo turned back around immediately, his annoyance renewed, but Zu smiled and waved Tohru over. Tohru sat down in front of the brown haired cat zodiac. Zu was sitting cross legged with a black and white cat in her lap, stroking the fluffy fur as the cat purred.

"I just came to check on you," said Tohru.

"Kyo is fine," said Zu "Just hurt his pride. Cats aren't exactly manly." Zu laughed a bit.

Tohru was amazed, this was the most emotion she had ever seen from Zu. Usualy the girl was quite, content to eat her dango and read a book in silence. But now she was bright eyed and happy. Almost playful.

"But Kyo," said Tohru "You didn't need to run from the room like that. Everyone is worried and…."

"SHUT UP OK?!" screamed the angry red head. (This exclamation scared every one of the dozen or more cats on the roof) "I GOT IT! I'M A SCREW UP! JUST SHUT UP!" With that the male cat stormed back into the school and shut the door with a load slam behind him. Zu winced when the door closed.

"I'M SORRY!" said Tohru "I'M SO SORRY! I DIDN'T MEAN TO GET HIM MAD LIKE THAT! I'LL GO FIND HIM RIGHT NOW!"

Zu grabbed her arm before Tohru could run off. "Don't bother. He just needs to cool off." Zu looked at the door smiling slightly. "I know Kyo better than anyone and I don't know him that much."

"Do you know him so well because your both cats?"

"No, not really. I know him because he was always like a brother to me somehow. Just because we're both cats doesn't mean we get along. In fact the two cats are very different."

"Different? How?"

"Well," said Zu shifting her position slightly. "You know the zodiac story right?"

Tohru nodded.

"well, there's a bit of a longer story, and that's what our curse is based opon. See, all the zodiacs had mates see. And, true to the original story god invited them to a party."

"Right," agreed tohru.

"But, you see, the rats decided to play a prank on the cats, but the female cat was sneaky and she found out their plan. The rats made her promise she wouldn't tell the male cat, that it was just a joke, that nothing would happen. Well, the female cat was also lazy, and so by time she got to the party it was late. God was mad at the two cats. He said that there would never be a cat in the zodiac to punish them, then he took it a step further for the male cat. He cursed him because he didn't come to the party at all. And so, Kyo bares the bulk of the curse, but I'm sort of stuck in the middle, not sure what I am. I stayed with Kyo because he was the one who knew most about what I was going through. Being an outcast I mean."

"What do you mean Kyo bares the bulk of the curse?" asked Tohru.

Zu looked up "Pray that you will never find out what I mean," she said. Then she smiled "I think that's enough zodiac history for the day." Zu stood up and began walking to the door.

"How come your acting so different today?" asked Tohru.

Zu stopped, turned back around and smiled "The more I get to know you, the more I change for the better. I promise." With that the door opened and closed and Tohru was alone on the roof.


	3. before the cultural festival

"What the hell are you doin'?" asked Kyo as he leaned on the wall not far from tohru.

"Making rice balls," she replied.

"Don't mind if I do," said Zu walking by, sweeping up a rice ball as she passed and continued on to the front door.

"Actually they're for the cultural festival at school, Zu, but…..," Said Tohru, but the door closed. "Oh well."

"I can go get it back from her," said Kyo nonchalantly.

"No, it's fine. It's probably gone by now anyway." Said Tohru smiling.

Kyo grunted agreement. "Can I have one?" he asked pointing to the rice balls.

"sure. I mean zu did take one… I'm making them with surprise filling. Anything from plumbs to…. OH NO! KYO DON'T TAKE THAT ONE IT'S…."

"URG! YUCK!"

"Leeks…."

Kyo dropped the leek riceball in a garbage can. "Screw it. I'll make my own" He muttered and went over by Tohru. He picked up some rice and began molding it with his hands.

"Wow! You're really good at this!" said Tohru looking over at Kyo's perfect riceball.

"Thanks, master taught me how to cook. To survive on my own."

"Master?" asked Tohru.

But just then there was a sound, the door sliding open. "Shi?" asked a voice.

"I'll see who it is," said Tohru. "Hello? Who is it?" she asked rounding the corner.

There was a girl in the doorway with long blonde hair. She had big green eyes and an innocent expression on her face. She wore a sort green and black dress and black leggings as well as knee high black boots. She looked about Tohru's age, maybe a year older.

"Oh!" she said looking at Tohru "I'm looking for shigure sohma. Is he here?" she asked looking hopeful.

"No," said Tohru "I'm afraid to say he's not."

"Will he be back soon?"

"I'm not sure. He's helping Yuki with the cultural festival at school."

"Oh," said the girl.

"Otsuki? What are you doing here?" asked Kyo as he walked into the room to see what was happening.

"KYO!" said Otsuki running up to him. "HOW WONDERFUL IT IS TO SEE YOU!" She wrapped her arms around the cat with a big smile on her face, only to have his fist slam down on the top of her head.

"Gomennasai" she said before sinking to the ground.

It was then Shigure opened the front door and looked down. A smile grew on his face. "Otsuki! How nice to see you!"

Later that day when Otsuki woke up…

"What brings you here Otsuki?" asked Shigure

"I was in town when I remembered you still had some of my stuff I asked for you to keep until I got settled in to my new home. Well, I'm settled, so I'm here to pick them up!" Said Otsuki with a bright smile on her face.

"Ah, yes," said Shigure "I remember those things. I'm sure I can find them, just give me a moment." Shigure stood up and left the room mumbling something about how he hoped none of it was broken.

Otsuki turned to Tohru "Hello!" she smiled "I'm Otsuki Sohma! Who are you?"

"Tohru Honda." Said Tohru.

"Ehhhhh!" said Otsuki slyly sliding close to Kyo "a GIRL huh Kyo?"

With that another kyo fist landed on top of her head.

"Gomennasai" she muttered, as small dramatic tears falling down her face as she scooted away.

_A Sohma!_ Thought Tohru _I wonder if she's part of the zodiac…_

"Here it is!" sang Shigure appearing with a box filled with everything from books to rice ball makers. "A few of the plate broke though…" he said Holding up a piece of a light blue china plate.

"It's ok," said Otsuki standing up and taking the box "I can always get more plates…. And new picture frames," she help up a broken piece of a picture frame studying it, then the smile popped back onto her face. "bye shi! Thank you! Bye kyo! Bye Tohru! See ya!" and with that Otsuki left.

The door opened again only a second later. Zu stood in the doorway a stick of dango once again between her teeth.

"Was that just Otsuki?" she asked.

"why yes it was," shigure chirped.

Zu shrugged and sat down.

"Hey Zu! What are you doing for the cultural festival?" asked Tohru smiling at the brown haired cat.

"I'm going to express my American heritage by doing nothing," said Zu finishing off her dango. "Hey kyo!" she turned to the other cat "Look what I can do with this," she held up the stick that once had dango on it.

"Your american?" Tohru asked ignoring the fact the Zu had just picked up a table knife.

"my mom was," said Zu sharpening the stick.

Kyo was starting to feel uneasy.

"was?" asked Tohru.

"no sure where she went," said Zu inspecting the sharpened stick.

Shigure slowly stood up and walked out of the room closing the door behind him, an uneasy smile an his face.

"Oh," said Tohru flashing back to the fact that her mother was dead.

"It's ok," said Zu standing up herself "I didn't know her anyway," Zu walked over to Kyo, picked up a rice ball and put it on his head. "If you move kyo, I'm going to aim much lower and hit between the legs," she said a dark aura surrounding her before she smiled sweetly. Kyo stood perfectly still as Zu walked to the other side of the room and aimed her dango stick like it was a dart. A long, sharp, wooden, dart. She then through the dart at the rice ball on top of kyo's head. The dango stick dart hit dead center and Tohru started clapping. Zu bowed. Kyo fell over in a faint letting the sharp end of the dango stick hit the rice paper wall behind him and then slowly tear the material as he went down hitting the floor.

It was then shigure appeared from the other room. "Kyo?" he asked "Zu? I must once again ask that you please not destroy my house."


	4. at the festival

Thank you all for reading my story! I'm very interested in this catnip idea. Thank you all so much for commenting! PLEASE COMMENT MORE I LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU! P.S. I do not own fruits basket. I own a few of these characters though that are not from the original fruits basket manga and anime. ENJOY!

"are you excited to go to the cultural festival?" Tohru asked Zu as she, kyo, shigure, and Zu walked to their school.

"not really," Zu said. She had on a "'MERICA!" shirt and was eating a corndog.

"I can't believe that's what you're doing for the cultural festival," Kyo mumbled to Zu, his hands in his pockets.

"What was I supposed to do?" asked Zu.

"I don't know!" said Kyo "if you wanted to do America you could sell hotdogs or something!"

"You know I couldn't do that," said Zu.

"and why's that?" asked Kyo.

"I'd eat them all," Zu stated simply, taking another bite of her corn dog.

Kyo had to admit she had a point. He turned back to the other cat "Why the hell do you eat so much anyway?"

"I'm just hungry all the time." Zu answered not seeming to care.

"How the hell do you eat so much?" asked Kyo.

"It's easy," said Zu "I just pick things up, check if their edible, then stuff them in my pie hole right here," she indicated her mouth, opening it up wide "Then they go down and I eat them. The end." She smiled and then went back to eating her corndog.

"aren't you going to run out of corndogs?" asked Kyo.

Zu reached over and opened up a bag she had hanging from her side. Inside were three rows of five corndogs each. "I'm set." She said.

"Even with that supply you'll run out before the festival is over," said Tohru looking over the stash.

Zu pulled up her shirt slightly exposing about ten or fifteen corndogs being held in little straps on her belt. "Like I said I'm set." Said Zu.

"Handy use of your belt," commented shigure.

"what kind of belt is that anyway?" asked Tohru.

"well, you see," said Shigure "Zu here is a….."

"Hello Tohru." It was Hana. "Zu. Kyo."

Shigure: I'm here too.

"Hey Hana! Hey Uo!"

"Hey Tohru, we can walk you up to the festival if you want."

"Sure!" said Tohru.

Tohru, Zu, Kyo, Hana, Uo, and shigure walked into the school. Zu scanned the crowd while eating anew corndog. "Why is yuki in a dress?" she asked. Out of the crowds of laughing people came yuki in a pink dress.

"Yuki! What happened?" said Tohru

Shigure: HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!

"I lost a bet," mumbled Yuki

"You look very cute yuki!" said Tohru smileing.

Zu reached out a hand and patted the top of his head.

"Zu? What are you doing?" Yuki asked the emotionless teen.

"Your hair just looked soft," she answered as if that answered everything.

"Yuki?" The gang of teens (and shigure HE'S THERE TOO!) turned to see a tall man with black hair covering one eye. The man was in a doctor coat and his eyes were storm grey. His expression was emotionless, even more so than Zu's, and his voice was low and smooth. "What are you wearing?" asked the man.

Yuki's face turned a bright shade of red and Zu perked up. "HELLO ORI!" said Zu throwing her hand in the air as greeting.

"Hello Zu, how have you been doing?"

"Good! And you Ori?"

"I've been doing find myself."

"Hatori!" said Shigure "How have you been doing? Why, it's been so long! TOO LONG REALLY! You really need to call more often than to just check on Yuki. Oh how Aya has missed you? What HAVE you been up to? It seems your never around anymore dear Hatori!"

"Hello shigure," Tohru thought she heard some annoyance in his low voice "I'm here watching Momiji. He just had to come."

"MOMIJI'S HERE?" said Zu little cat ears perking up in interest.

"Oh great," said Kyo rolling his eyes.

"ZU!" said a voice from behind them. A boy (at least, Tohru thought it was a boy.) came running toward them, his arms open wide, his eyes had a starry look.

"MOMIJI!" Said Zu with the same starry eyed look and her arms also open.

However, kyo seemed to not want to see any of this and instead pushed Momiji away.

"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" balled the boy (Tohru was sure he was a boy now) "HATORI! KYO'S PICKING ON ME!"

Zu had come to the rescue, wrapping her arms around the small boy. "Don't worry. Kyo won't pick on you anymore." Zu turned her head to face Kyo, a creepy glair was plastered on her face "You wont. Right kyo?"

"NO NO! I WON'!" said Kyo scared to death.

"Who's that?" asked Momiji pointing to tohru.

"Oh," said Yuki "Momiji, this is miss Tohru Honda. Miss Honda this is our cousin Momiji."

"And I'm Hatori," hatori said Holding his hand out in greeting. "It's nice to meet you miss Honda."

Momiji's eyes lit up. "She's the one who knows right?!" said Momiji smiling.

"Yes," said Yuki "But please don't…." Yuki didn't finish his sentence. Instead Momiji shouted out a "YEAH!" and jumped right into Tohru's arms.

"AH CRAP!" said Kyo.

Tohru felt herself and momiji being pushed. The next thing Tohru knew she was sitting on the floor behind one of the booths with a rabbit resting in her arms.

"MOMIJI!" kyo was yell/whispering "WHY THE HELL WOULD YOU DO THAT?!"

Within a second Momiji the rabbit was gone from Tohru's arms and Zu was crouching a few feet away with the rabbit held to her chest. "Don't yell at Momiji Kyo! He can't help it! He's just friendly!"

"He can be friendly someplace else at another time when he's not in a room full of people!"

Tohru looked around the booth to see Tuki dancing around in his pink dress, trying to drive attention away from Shigure as he picked up the young boy's cloths.

"Momiji, why would you do that?" said Hatori.

"I'm sorry, I just wanted to say Hi," said momiji tearfully.

"It's ok, but be more careful next time," said Hatori.

Zu: See Kyo he said he was sorry!

"I'm sorry Tohru," said Momiji "I didn't mean to cause trouble for you."

"It's ok Momiji, I'm happy to meet you too!" beamed Tohru.

"YEAH!" said Momiji jumping back into Tohru's arms.

"Isn't he just so cute?" said Zu looking at momiji. The was a puff of yellow smoke. "….until he does that." She added.


	5. the roof

THANK YOU GUYS SO MUCH FOR READING THIS! Sorry it took me so long to update! I see the comments and messages about adding your own ideas of characters to the story. Go ahead and keep putting in suggestions, but I already have an idea for a lot of the characters. Anyway, on with the story!

3 you guys!

"Where are we going?" asked Zu casually with a corndog held between her teeth.

"Just come on," said Hatori calmly.

"We're going to the roof," Kyo observed.

"Yes?" was Hatori's only reply before opening the door to the roof and holding it open for the three teens as they passed by.

"What's this about?" asked Yuki.

"I just wanted to ask a few questions," said Hatori "How are all of you doing."

"Fine," said Kyo leaning against the metal fence that surrounded the roof.

"and the girl? Tohru Honda?"

Kyo and Yuki blushed.

"Tohru is great." said Zu sitting on the floor not far from Kyo. "She cooks and stuff. I leave my jacket on the floor and it's in my closet by the next day."

"So you're just using her?' said Yuki bluntly.

Zu shrugged.

"Now, one more thing," said Hatori. "Yuki, would you move over a little please?" yuki looked confused but complied. "A little more. A little more." There was a flash and when the teens looked up Hatori had a camera in his hand. "Akito wanted a picture of you three. He complained that he never sees any of you anymore."

"WHY YOU…!"

"calm yourself kyo," said Zu biteing into a new corndog. "We all knew our dear family head wouldn't leave us alone forever. Ori is just following orders."

"Thank you zu," stated the tall dark haired man "Now I must get back to Momigi. I'll see you soon Yuki, Kyo, Zu." With that Hatori left.

There was silence for a second.

"YEAH! WELL SCREW YOU!" screamed Kyo before storming off.

Yuki sighed and went for the door back inside. Before stepping through he stopped and peered over at Zu who was still sitting on the ground. "You coming back to the festival?" he asked.

"I will in a second. I think I'll stay here for a while." Said Zu, her hair hanging over her face.

Yuki nodded and left.

Zu sat there for a long time, just watching the clouds. She hummed a slow tune under her breath until she heard the door open and close again.

"Zu?"

Zu turned to see Tohru watching her. "Hey,"

"are you ok?"

"yeah I'm fine," said Zu "Just thinking. I do that sort of thing sometimes you know."

"Oh!" said Tohru looking embarrassed "Well, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to disturb you! I just thought when you didn't come back with yuki you…"

"No, no," said Zu "Sit." She patted the spot next to her. Tohru nodded and obediently sat.

There was silence for a moment and then Tohru said "What were you thinking about?"

"The past," answered Zu.

Tohru was surprised. Zu always seemed so in the moment. "What about it?"

"many things," said Zu vaguely.

"Like?" asked Tohru leaning slightly closer trying to look at Zu's face that was hidden behind a curtain of curls.

"Tohru?"

"hm?"

The head turned showing a sad smile "Have you ever been in love?"

Tohru was silent, not quite sure what to say.

Zu smiled a more Zu-ish smile, but it still wasn't her usual smile. "why look at that, I seem to be out of corndogs, I really didn't have enough." Zu stood up and Tohru looked up at her. "Well, no point in staying here, might as well go home. See ya,"

The last thing Tohru saw of Zu was the waving hand disappearing behind the door.


	6. Otsuki comes back

THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH FOR YOUR FEED BACK! I'M SO HAPPY YOU ALL LIKE IT! This is my first story here so I'm just so happy! I love all of you so much! THANK YOU! ~Blacklakemermaid

When tohru and the rest came back home it was like nothing ever happened. Zu was sitting on the floor reading a book with a stick of dango in her mouth. She had put on some torn shorts and a blue tank top since Tohru last saw her.

"What ya readin'" asked Kyo.

"Wicked," answered Zu.

"Is it good?"

"eh, I like the idea, not so much the story line." There was a moment of silence as Zu turned the page, read a few lines, and then threw the book across the room and right through shigure's rice paper door.

Shigure: I heard ripping. That better not be my house

"What did you do that for?!" screamed Kyo.

"I didn't like the ending," said Zu walking by "Fix the door please, kyo," Said Zu, walking up the stairs to her room.

"Why should I?" asked Kyo crossing his arms.

"SHIGURE!" screamed Zu from half way up the stairs "KYO BROKE YOUR DOOR!"

"ZU YOU LITTLE….!" Began kyo.

"KYOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO," came Shigure's sing song voice "Please fix my door."

Kyo walked off to fix the door grumbling the whole way.

"You knew it was Zu who broke that door. Didn't you?" asked Yuki.

"Yup," said Shigure sweetly.

It was then that Otsuki appeared. She looked through the large hole in the front door and then stepped right through it. "Hi Shi," she said brightly.

"Otsuki! How nice it is to see you! Now why have you come back here?" asked Shigure.

"I think I left one of my pictures here," said Otsuki. "You don't happen to have it."

Shigure looked confused but smiled anyway and said "I can check, wait right here."

Otuki pointed to the door. "What happened there?"

"I'm not quite sure," answered Yuki.

Otsuki walked over to the ruined door. "It was kyo wasn't? Always messing things up. He's a real klutz." She began laughing.

"Look who's talking," said a voice behind her.

Otsuki froze and turned slowly around to see kyo with a freaky looking aura surrounding him. "Gomenna," she said slowly slinking back to where Yuki was where it was safe.

Tohru walked in then and spotted Otsuki. "Otsuki!" she said happily "What are you doing here?"

"Just waiting for Shi to get something I left behind," Otsuki said beaming.

"And Shi has it right here," said Shigure holding a picture in his hand. "This is the one you're looking for right Otsuki?"

Otsuki beamed "Yeah!" She took the picture from shigure and smiled at it.

"What's the picture of?" asked Tohru.

"Me and my dad," said Otsuki.

"Can I see?"

"Sure!" Otsuki held out the photo for Tohru to see.

The picture was in a marble frame and had a picture of a man in it with blonde hair that hung in his eyes. He was sitting on a grass covered hill with a baby rabbit in his arms and a look of utter shock on his face.

"Where are you?" asked Tohru.

"Right there silly," said Otsuki pointing to the rabbit.

"THAT'S YOU?!" said Tohru shocked.

"yeah," said Otsuki blushing "I was six in this picture. Mom wanted a photo of my dad and I and dad put his arms around me and posed but, you know, poof! It made for a great shot though." Otsuki laughed

"Where's your dad now?"

Otsuki's smile faded a bit. "At the moment? The hospital."

"Why?!" asked Tohru shocked.

"I didn't hear anything about this," said Shigure with rapped attention.

"Yes, what happened?" asked Yuki putting a comporting arm around Otsuki.

"Dad picked up cancer in his leg, a few months ago" said Otsuki a small tear going down her face "We didn't tell anyone because the doctors thought they could get rid of it with some treatment. They were right… for a while." Otsuki took a deep, shaky breath.

"For a while?" asked Yuki.

"A few weeks ago the cancer came back, worse this time. The doctors think they might need to cut off his leg."

There was a sharp intake of breath from the listeners and Otsuki broke down crying.

There was utter silence in the house, no one knowing quite sure what to say or do. No one moved until Otsuki felt a light tug on her arm. She looked up through her tears to se Zu, one of her hands gripping Otsuki's thin wrist.

"Zu?" whispered Otsuki.

Zu didn't say anything she just tugged lightly on Otsuki's arm until Otsuki pulled away from Yuki and followed Zu up the stairs.

"What was that?" asked Tohru.

"Zu and Otsuki used to be best friends, they don't talk much anymore," answered Shigure.

"Why?" asked Tohru.

"Boy trouble," said Shigure shaking his head sadly.

"What happened?"

"Well, Zu Just so happened to fall for a boy, that Otsuki just so happened to fall for as well. That's about the whole story."

Tohru nodded solemnly as she thought about what Zu had said on the roof. She understood now, if only a little why that odd, sad, smile had been on her face when she said those few words.

Have you ever been in love?

"There, done." Said Kyo breaking the silence as he finished fixing the door.

"I think I might go for a walk," said Yuki "does anyone wish to join me?"

"I would but I think I should get some rest," smiled Tohru "we have school in the morning after all."

"Of course," said Yuki.

"Sleep well!" piped in shigure as Tohru walked upstairs to her room. As she passed Zu's door she heard low crying and couldn't help but stop to listen. Tohru heard low singing now as well as the crying. The song was low, a lullaby maybe.

"zu," Tohru heard Otsuki whisper.

The singing stopped.

"about Shinzo…."

"don't talk about him right now," Interrupted zu. "That was the problem in the first place. The singing started up again and Tohru left to go to her room thinking about that name. Shinzo.


End file.
